How can the Wii Balance Board make life better for the pilots of international passenger aircraft? Graduate student Nicoline van der Vaart suggests they sit on it and spin.
In her graduation project for Industrial Design Engineering, van der Vaart tackles the issue of airline pilot back pain with an innovative and inventive application of Wii technology.
If you think airplane seats are uncomfortable, how do you think the guys manning the controls up front feel? They spend long hours staring at rows and rows of instruments, unable to pull out a Nintendo DS and get their game on to help the time pass. In the case of KLM pilots, these long hours in uncomfortable seats have resulted in rampant back pain, which then leads to rampant absenteeism.
Enter the Industrial Engineering Design student!
In her quest to come up with more comfortable seating for pilots, Nicoline suggests several interesting changes, but none quite as interesting and poignant to our interests as the inclusion of Wii Balance Board technology in the seat area.
No, the pilots won't be playing Wii Fit with their asses. The tech would be used to determine how long the pilot has remained in a single position, suggesting a change in posture at various intervals to help promote a healthy back.
Though I certainly wouldn't begrudge them a few quick rounds of Raving Rabbids TV Party. A bored aircraft pilot is a scary aircraft pilot.
Redesigned cockpit seat uses Nintendo Wii-fit [Flightglobal Blogs]